1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a novel composition of matter and the method of preparing same. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a novel fuel composition which contains carbon black and a combustible liquid. In addition, the present invention is also related to a method of increasing the heating value of the combustible liquid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Some combustible liquids such as menthol have a low heating value on a volumetric basis. Its heating value is approximately 63,900 BTU/gallon, as compared to 136,000 BTU/gallon for kerosene or 130,000 BTU/gallon for gasoline. When this low heating value is coupled with the cost of shipping and storing, the use of methanol as a fuel is usually uneconomic.
The combination of a carbonaceous solid material such as coal with liquid fuel materials to form a composite fuel is well known, as exemplified in the following patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 776,365 discloses a composite fuel and a method of making same. The fuel comprises a finely-ground carbonaceous solid matter, such as coal, which is mixed during the grinding with molasses, crude petroleum, or a similar inflammable semi-liquid. The compound is then thinned to the density of ordinary fuel-oil by adding thereto a fluid such as crude alcohol or a light hydrocarbon.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,590,733 discloses a stable suspension of colloidal sized coal particles suspended in a liquid medium. The liquid may be fuel oil, paints, drying oils such as linseed, tung, or mehaden oils, and lubricating oil. The solid material is first ground as finely as possible and mixed with the liquid medium to form a suspension in which the solid particles are completely and uniformly dispersed throughout the liquid medium.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,668,757 discloses a method of preparing nonaqueous carbon dispersions. The method comprises forming in an agitated body of an inert organic liquid such as mineral oil an alkali metal soap of a higher fatty acid and agitating the resulting mixture with finely divided amorphous carbon. Such dispersions of amorphous carbons and liquids are useful for high heat value fuels.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,754,267 is directed to a fluid carbon black suspension which comprises a refined mineral oil having suspended therein between about ten percent (10%) to about forty percent (40%) by weight of the total suspension of carbon black particles. The particles weight of the total suspension of carbon black particles. The particles are coated with at least about a unimolecular coating of an oil-soluble hydrolyzed copolymer. As noted at column 3, lines 5 through 6 in this patent, the presence of the oil-soluble copolymeric materials is essential to the suspension.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,698 discloses a process of producing synthesis gas from a slurry of particulate solid carboniferous fuels in a water or a hydrocarbon liquid fuel. The slurry is mixed with a stream of an oxidizing gas at the tip of a burner to form an atomized dispersion of water, hydrocarbon liquid fuel, oxidizing gas, and solid carboniferous fuel. Under synthesis gas generating conditions, the atomized dispersion is reacted to produce a gaseous mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. According to this process, pumpable slurry feeds of low-cost solid carboniferous fuels may be gasified in a synthesis gas generator without being preheated.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,642,608 is related to a process for de-ashing coal. The process comprises intimately contacting the coal in particulate form with a highly aromatic hydrocarbon petroleum refinery byproduct stream as a solvent to produce a coal solution having a low viscosity which can be de-ashed by settling and/or filtering. The coal may then be used for the production of carbon black.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,887 is directed to a liquid fuel composition having as its sole constituents, particulate coal and water. The particulate coal and water are mixed to form a homogeneous slurry which can be handled stored, pumped and burned in substantially the same manner as conventional liquid fuels. The coal and water in the slurry have the relative proportions of between fifty-four (54) and sixty-nine (69) percent by volume of coal and forty-six (46) and thirty-one (31) percent by volume water.
The above-listed patents show that while the combination of a solid carbonaceous material with liquid fuel is known, the composition and process of the present invention have not been mentioned or suggested.
It has been discovered that when up to about twenty percent (20%) weight of carbon black particles is added to a combustible liquid such as methanol or kerosene, there is and insignificant increase (no more than five percent (5%)) in the volume of the mixture. Such a carbon black/combustible liquid mixture has an increased heating value over that of the liquid alone. Thus, combustible liquids having low heating values may be advantageously used as fuels when carbon black particles have been added thereto to increase the heating value.